Welcome to my outreach page!
Along with doing research, I love doing public outreach when possible.
Me at the ceremonial south pole
A little bit about me (Academic Background)
In 2014, after completing by BS in AStrophysics and PLanetary Geoplogy, I joined the staff of Columbus State University’s, Coca-Cola Space Science Center in order to ground myself in an environment that focused on astronomy research and educational outreach. While physics - a subject new to me - was interesting, and I enjoyed applying physical concepts to understand astronomical problems. I did very well in projects, independent study courses, research, workshops and class discussions and presentations throughout my undergraduate career and in doing so I was noted by faculty as one of the most inspirational students in the department, and received an award via the Institute of Museum and Library Services grant. This was for a project I led acquiring, installing and operating the WestRock observatory’s new robotic telescope. Upon graduating with my B.Sc. in Astronomy, I accepted a staff position at Columbus State University's Coca-Cola Space Science Center as the observatory technician of the WestRock Observatory. This is where I learned to apply the principles of observational techniques and robotics to ongoing scientific projects. This was an invaluable experience, which further deepened my passion for astronomical research. After taking one year to focus on my position as observatory technician, I joined the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program to broaden my perspectives and to improve my career prospects. Now as a student in this program working with Dr. Isler at Vanderbilt University along with collaborators at Yale University, I have been able to extend my knowledge on the field of multi-wavelength observations by studying blazars that are a part of the Yale/SMARTS multi-wavelength monitoring system. These blazars are radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei that have been known to have flares that peak in optical, infrared and Gamma-ray frequencies. In monitoring the Yale/SMARTS blazar catalog there has been a discovery of what we call orphan flares. These are optical and near infrared flares that have no accompanying gamma-ray counterpart. The discovery of this phenomenon was studied in Chatterjee et al 2012, and has led my research in identifying other orphan flares in the history of other blazars in the monitored sources list.